High On Poker

After CC‘s great series on Poker and Relationships, and his recent series on Poker and Children, I became inspired. How does poker affect our pets?

In order to understand this issue greater, I spoke to players far and wide to discover the negative effects poker has had on many a family pet. For the sake of privacy, all of the players have remained anonymous.

One poker player wrote:

For me, personally, poker has greatly affected my life with “Sparky” [the anonymous player's dog's name has been changed to protect the innocent]. I found that when I played, Sparky would sulk off into a corner. Before I discovered online poker, Sparky and I used to sit and watch TV while I petted or combed his coat. Now, most of the TV time has become online poker time. As a result, Sparky’s beautiful mane has looked somewhat scraggily. He doesn’t seem to mind, or so I tell myself, but when I take him to the dog park, most of the other dogs are so better kempt. I worry that I might make Sparky the trailer-park trash of the dog hierarchy. I already see that he has become one of the pack followers, rather than the leader he once was. I plan on cutting down on online poker in the future, but right now, I just can’t seem to pull myself away, no matter how sad Sparky is.

Wow. What a bold statement. Poker can sometimes distract us from the more important things in life. Neglect is a terrible thing for anyone to suffer. Luckily, Sparky seems to be a strong dog, and appears to be understanding of his owner. I also received an update, and Sparky is now on prozac and doing well. Let’s hear from someone else.

When I first got my kitten “Fluffy”, we spent lots of time together. There is nothing cuter than a little gray cat playing with a ball of string. Unfortunately, Fluffy got some bad habits, and in the end, they have come into conflict with my poker game. I like to have homegames about once a week. Mostly, it was just friends from work who came over to gab, drink some wine and play some cards. Fluffy was generally very cautious at first, but then she started getting into the game. The problem occurred when she got a bit too into the game. Fluffy started climbing on the table. Then she’d go after players’ cards if they moved them around too much. In the end, she’d splash the pot, expose cards, and cause a ruckus. That’s when I let Fluffy out to roam free on the streets. At least there, she can find a pick-up game with the other alley cats.

It is truly sad what poker can do to an otherwise well behaved pet. I don’t know if I would’ve left the cat out in an alley. I’d like to think that my humanitarian self would’ve been kind enough to sell the cat or at least dump him at the dog pound, or wherever cats go. Finally, one last letter.

Hey Jordan! I heard about your article on Poker and Pets and thought I’d add my two cents. When I started playing poker, it was mostly live. I found myself out for days at a time, since the nearest poker room was several hours away. My goldfish, “Sanford”, took the brunt of it. I wouldn’t be around to feed him for days on end, and I noticed him looking sickly. I had just moved to town and didn’t know many people, so I didn’t have anyone to look after him. I knew what I was doing was wrong, so when I found out about online poker, I found the solution to my problem. I started playing online, and actually set up my comp right by Sanford. It was fun at first. I’d notice that he would swim closer to the screen when I was playing. I found a good job and was out of the house more, but I still found time to play poker. Meanwhile, I noticed, here and there, that my account online would fluctuate. I mean, I didn’t notice it directly. But I wouldn’t play for a few days and then when I returned it was off by a couple of bucks. I then noticed that my harddrive had filled up. I took a look around and found several other poker sites downloaded. I figured it was damn spyware or something, so I erased them, but they kept coming back. Then I got this email from Party Poker: “Dear Mr. ‘Sanford’: It has come to our attention that you have opened several accounts with Party Poker, which is against our policy. As a result, we are confiscating all funds, totalling $104,000 from your accounts.” I was shocked, but then I noticed that my mouse was wet! Sanford had been secretly playing on my account, and eventually ran up my credit cards starting 6 different party poker accounts. I was shocked, and flushed Sanford that night. So, poker and pets don’t mix! Signed, ZeeJustin.”

Whoops! Forgot to edit the end of that last one.

But as you can see, poker can have a very harmful effect on your pets. So treat them well, and remember, pets and poker don’t mix!

I played last night at Robbie Hole’s home game. In my last two forays there, I came out winner, but this time I was taken out early in both tournaments to lose a whopping $30. That’s the beauty of the Hole game. Even when you lose, it barely stings.

As usual, it was a social game. I got to talk some strategy with Peter, one of the newer players, a 40-something guy who loves the game but still hasn’t grasped some of the nuances. But hell, he doesn’t need nuances, because he ended up kicking my well-studied ass all over the place.

In the first tournament. I watched Pete carefully as he looked at his cards and started to ponder. He looked like he was planning something, and to me, I read it as him having some quality cards. The thing was, I wasn’t sure how much quality there really was. I decided to call his minimum bet from the small blind with AT.

The flop was T high, and I decided that it was time to make a bet. $3 to Peter, only to be raised $3 on top. Now I’m thinking, ok, he has me beat. He has JJ-AA. But I don’t know. Pete doesn’t have the best grasp of the game, and maybe I can make something happen here. I called and the turn was a J. I bet out $5 and Pete called. Good, I thought. He is slowing down. Next card out was a blank, and I decided to bet $5 more to control the pace. He called and I showed my pair of tens. He had 88. I was already doing well…

Yeah, but things didn’t go well after that. I don’t remember the exact situation, but Pete eventually took me out when I held A5 in the blinds. I was shortstacked after losing a hand to Pete that I, for the life of me, can’t remember. The flop came down AhKx6h and I decided that I needed to protect my top pair. Pete raised, but I didn’t fear Pete. Again, his betting range is so wide that he could easily have made the move with Kings. It’s a loose game, and the two limpers didn’t scare me. They could’ve had anything as well, which is the theme of the Hole home game. If they had an Ace, I was willing to lose. I guess it was partially a case of the awfukkits, but I seriously believed that I could take the hand. I push, Randy Hole calls, and Pete calls. Uh oh, I think, I’m in trouble. The next card was another K. I knew I was cooked. Now I was hoping that they had an Ace and that I could maybe chop the pot with another high card. But Pete bets big, and Randy folds. Randy had QJo, and Pete held K9h. For the hell of it, he also happened to river his flush, and I was out.

Oh, and please, no need to comment on the stupidity of my play. I know it, you know it, Pete knows it. But it was one of those games…

In the second tournament, I ran into trouble from Pete again. Lord, I wish I remembered the situation. I think I hit top pair of Aces with a good kicker. Pete, on the other hand, had 99 and hit his set. The worst part was when I pushed all-in. Pete took a long time to call, giving me false hope. When he called and showed it, I actually gave a mini lecture (I know, bad Jordan). “Pete, when you have a great hand and you are going to call anyway, you don’t need to pretend like you have a crap hand. Just call.” My error. He really was debating the call, fearing an unlikely straight. Either way, that burst my bubble and I resigned myself to dealing the rest of the night.

It was just one of those games. I couldn’t get into the groove. I lost a hand to Robbie Hole where I called his hand. I called it! But I couldn’t let go of my AJ on an Ace high board (A65). Sure enough, when we were all in, I said, “you have A6″. He did. Reading your opponents, though, doesn’t count for shit if you don’t act on your reads.

So, I’m not really complaining. I had a great time. Tonight, wifey Kim will be going to LI to pick up a car. She has to drive into New Jersey tomorrow, so that means I’ll be free to play until she returns to NYC tonight at about 9:30. Look me up!

The home game set for Friday is coming together. Right now the roster is a bit short though, so I’m doing what I can to up attendance. We have currently 5 players: me, Drewspop, SoxLover and wife, and Hoyazo. Any other NYC-area bloggers are invited to join. The plan is a $40 tourney with one rebuy in the first hour. Afterward, we’ll probably play cash games.

After losing $60 Monday night, I was glad to end up $15 yesterday. The difference in my play seems to have come down to that topic I mentioned about a week ago: feelings.

Rather than go to my Rios, as I have been prone to do, I decided to play what felt right. This led me to the .25/.50 NL full table at Noble Poker. I hadn’t played a NLHE ring game in a while, so I settled down, eyeing my competition, and got ready for some folding action.

And fold I did, for about an orbit. If I had something playable, I played it, but that wasn’t happening, at least not that I could recall. The max buy-in at .25/.50 NL is $50. I noticed that there were more than a few shortstacked players. My assumption is that they bought in for the minimum ($10) or neat to it. Some players don’t like to see this. To me, it is gold. I know that players like that are more likely to push with marginal hands. They lack confidence and only have so much to lose (and to manuever with). In addition, they can only hurt me so bad.

With this in mind, I kept an eye on my competition, noticing that one player, who I shall dub the Fugitive, was shortstack and ready to push. He was across the virtual felt from me, and open minimum raised from .50 to $1 in MP. The table folded around to me, and I decided to call his minimum raise with T5o. I knew that if I hit, and if there were no Aces on the flop, I was probably in good shape. I also knew that he only have about $5.50 left, so I could take that gamble anyway.

The flop, KT6. I decided to check, hoping that my opponent would push all-in. The pot was $2.25, and a push meant fear. I had him pegged for two high-cards, but not necessarily the King. If he had it, I would expect a bet from him of about $1 – 2. A push meant he missed.

Push, he did and call I did. The result: My T5 hit two pair on the turn…against his AJo. When he was busted, I immediately thought, “rebuy, rebuy, rebuy.” But instead the Fugitive fled for greener pastures, and I went on a donkey hunt.

The first stop was to the Find a Player function. I typed in the Fugitive’s name, and found him, surprisingly, at two .25/.50 PLO8 tables. Well, I can do that, so I kept the NL table opened and found one of the Fugitive’s PLO8, which was shorthanded with about 4 players. I sat down and decided to see if he was a poor player or just had made a poor play. To make sure the Fugitive didn’t escape, I tagged him as a buddy (in the future, I plan to Search for Buddies at Noble, and when I see Fugitive and my notes, I’ll know what I have to do.

Well, Fugitive and I got into a hand not too long into my stay. I held 5h4dKhKs, a decent hi/lo hand shorthanded, but by no means a lock to win. The flop, however, was 567, for bottom two pair. There was one other player in the hand, and I decided that the best move was a modest bet of $1 into the $1.50 pot. The other player folded and Fugitive called.

Now, here is the problem. If Fugitive has any two low cards besides 5,6, or 7, he’s made the low. I haven’t. So, most likely we are going to chop…unless he also has 89 in his hand, in which case I am dominated for the hi and lo.

The horseshoe in my ass shifted, and another 4 came down, giving me a full house. I felt confident in my high, and decided to bet again. I didn’t think that I could push him off of his presumed made low (A2 was one of my predictions for him), but I thought a bet could give me some information. He called me again, and the river came off, K, making me an even better full house.

Here’s the thing. The Fugitive bought in short at this table too, so by now, he had about $6 in front of him. I decided to play a little mind game, and bet $1, which was less than my earlier bets. The goal was to look scared. I knew that Fugitive liked bluffing when he sensed weakness, so I induced his all-in (again) by showing weakness. Sure enough, he pushes all-in over the top…and I call, scooping the pot. I don’t know what he had because as soon as he left the room, I got up too.

I followed the Fugitive to one last NLHE room, but once I arrived, he busted out. Checking the Search feature, I discovered that he was hovering in the lobby. I had enough hunting for tonight, and turned my attention to the Yahoo IM window.

As usual, I missed the WWdn tournament. I discovered this when I got home from dinner with the High clan at 9pm (start time is an ungodly 8:30). After my donkey hunting exploits, I hunted down some recently-busted bloggers for some SNG action. The SNG’s lineup included GCox, Mookie, and Hoyazo. Using my “feeling” technique, we decided on a 18-person SNG on Stars. My compadres all played well. G suffered an early exit, a rare occurrence for the solid player. Mookie and Hoyazo stayed near the top of the leader board until we were combined to one table, and then one player seemed to just spin gold. I mean, luckbox is an understatement, catching three outters like it was his job. As for my play, it was fairly sturdy. I avoided confrontations. Most players folded to my bets/raises, so I didn’t get much action on my premium hands. I was able to call one player’s hand exactly (JJ), and was happy to see Mookie double up against him with Mook’s KK. (Side note: To me, there is nothing better than calling a player’s cards and being correct. I consider it my greatest accomplishment and, when working, asset.) Eventually, however, I made some stupid plays once ITM, and went packing with 4th place. In my final hand, the blinds were 100/200 and I had 2,500. I decided to push all-in UTG with AJ. The BB woke up with AQ, and I lose. Stupid stupid stupid. After I pushed (and before I was called), I even said it to my cohorts. “Stupid move. I should have made a smaller raise.” Sure enough, the only person calling that raise would have me beat, and in the end, my impulsive act cost me some dough.

But I won last night. And that is pretty sweet.

Now, I can’t make Mookie’s tournament tonight, even though I had planned to. It’s at 10pm EST at Stars. I’ll be at Robbie Hole’s homegame, trying to increase my live bankroll before Atlantic City.

On Friday, I also have a home game at Casa del High, aka the 5 Diamond poker club. But you’ll get more details on that later.

Have a pokerific day!

First off, a quick update/change to the DADI 5: WSOP Satellite event.

The person who knocks out Wil Wheaton will get to name a future WWdn event (as opposed to the winner of the entire DADI event, because, frankly, that lucky bastard will be getting enough).

In addition, I have offered a bounty on myself. If you take out the man known as HighOnPokr, you win yourself two decks of plastic, high-quality Copag playing cards. So, come and get um!

I expect more bounties to follow…

Also, I am trying to gather some bloggers for a homegame this Friday at casa del High. If you are in the NYC area and would be interested, please send me an email (highonpokr@yahoo.com). I’ll tell you right now that it is not open to anyone, basically because it’s my home we are talking about here, and I don’t need you degenerates filling up the place. But I put it out there as a general invitation to my friends who read this, and to bloggers in the NYC area who I may or may not know. At least if you have a blog, I can take a perusal and see what I’m dealing with. The plan is probably a tournament ($40-60) and then some NL or Limit poker. Depending on the crowd we can even have mixed games.

Okay, a bit misleading. If you’ve read this humble corner of the blogs-and-crafts center, you know that I am anything BUT weak tight. However, in my neverending quest to kill the beast called Rio, I’ve adapted a bit of weak tight strategy into some preflop play. I don’t even know if I’m using the term “weak tight” right. I’d expect all of you Poker Tracker junkies to have more insight, so feel free to leave a comment.

First let me start by saying that yesterday was a -$60 disaster. I placed 3rd and 2nd in two out of four Rios, therefore suffering a net loss (3rd pays $1 profit only).

I played two non-Rio SNGs (first with Iamhoff and DrewsPop, the second with DrewsPop and Hoyazo), only to lose. In the first one, it was fancy play by me that caught me right in the junk. In the second one, escalating blinds caught up to me. However, I had, what I would call, an amazing play. I held AQ and another player raises from 100 to 350. This seemed familiar so I checked the hand history and saw him do it about 4-5 hands ago with J9s. Okay, buddy, let’s play. I decide to flat call, hoping for his usual continuation bet. Sure enough, I check on the Ace-high flop, and he raises about the pot size, which is fairly significant. I have about 22oo left, so I push (right after typing “watch this” to Hoyazo and DrewsPop in our Yahoo IM window. Sure enough, he calls with AJ, and…we split the pot when the board two-pairs. Doh! With that, I would’ve been the huge chip leader.

But I digress. The rest of my losses came at 1/2 Limit on Party, trying to earn the free $30 they offered me.

Now let’s get to the weak-tight. The key to Rios is keeping out of the way of the maniacs early. It wasn’t working last night, unfortunately, since either the players were generally tighter, or the shortstacks were constantly getting lucky. However, I’ve become weak-tight preflop, with hands that may even be considered premium in a 6-handed game.

Specifically, I’ve been playing AJ, AQ, and AK by merely limping in. My goal is to hit my Ace and hopefully either have a player stay in with A6 or some other crap and then call me down, or have a player not believe that I have the ace (because, after all, I just limped), or miss the flop and get the fuck out. Basically, I’m trying to remember that I shouldn’t be overplaying these hands, especially when they miss the flop. The value is in hitting the flop and in getting your opponent to stick around for the ride. The other benefit, which I already touched upon, is that no one suspect big slick in this situation.

The other thing is this: I’ve found myself continuing weak-tight post-flop in some situations. In one, I had AQ and hit the Ace. Someone else bets out a small-ish amount, and I decide to go along for the ride. I wasn’t sure if I was milking him or he was milking me, but me calls somehow kept his bets low. Something smelled wrong, but I couldn’t just fold in this situation. In the end, he had AK, and I saved myself some dough by not re-raising. Folding would’ve been better, but realistically, most of the time, I re-raise here, which would’ve been a disaster.

Am I making any sense? So, that’s it in a very tiny nutshell. I’d like to go into it more, but now that I began explaining, I’ve realized that there isn’t much to tell. I give up some blinds that I could possibly take easily with a bet, but I also maximize the value of the hands when they hit. It’s a balancing act, I suppose. In the end, what really interests me about it is that it is so different from my usual style. Then again, my results yesterday may suggest that I return to the old me. Oh well oh well.

That’s it for today. Mama High will be in the City tonight, so poker will probably be late or not at all. Have a good one!

I might be getting a reputation. It’s oddly something that I am simulatneously proud and ashamed of (but slightly more proud). Degenerate gambler might be the best name to go with, but its mostly for flair. Gambler will do just fine.

What’s it all about? I guess what it boils down to is action. I love it. And when I’m in a situation with the right people, well, I’m game for any sort of action.

On Wednesday, I had a 2 1/2 hour drive from NYC to Long Island, a trip that should take about 40 minutes. Halfway through I was bored, and bro-in-law Marc was in the car with wifey Kim and I. What’s a bored pair of guys to do? Gamble! On just about anything. For instance, how many times will the car in front of us break (affirmed by break lights) before the next overpass? OR, how many SUVs will pass us by Exit 31. Then there was the bet where we both chose 3 bands each and bet on whose band would play next on the classic rock station. Overall, I was a loser, but I had a good time losing.

This past weekend, it was Marc, wifey Kim, and mother-in-law Sharon in the car with me. Marc and I are fairly competitive, so we got to gambling again. Even Sharon was getting into it, not so much for the money, but just for bragging rights.

Fast-forward to Saturday night, and I find myself at a table with 12 other people having a birthday dinner for Robbie Hole. Surely, David Roose, Randy Hole, and Ilan the G-lan were there. It only took a matter of time before we bet on the bill. The winner was Ilan, who bet the highest and then proceded to order dessert and drinks. As it turned out, we were all under by about $200, so his drinks ploy didn’t play much of a factor. Sure enough though, the rest of the table simultaneously thought it was a hoot and abhorrent. Non-gamblers just don’t understand.

And here’s the thing. All of the aforementioned bets were for $1. That’s it! I tried to explain it to those dinnermates tsking in my direction. “It’s not about the money,” I tried to explain, “but the action. It’s just a goof to make things more interesting like how big our bill will be.” They just didn’t get it. Wifey Kim got it, but she was off by about $400 on the bill and you know I was covering her buy-in. In the end, it was just a joy to see her happy and betting with the best of them.

Now, take all of these prop bets and mix it with the poker. I felt like I couldn’t stop talking (and thinking) about poker all weekend. Friday night was all poker, with wifey Kim out to the movies with the girls. Saturday was a day of obligations, but while I couldn’t play, my thoughts were on returning to my Rio conquest. Sunday was much the same, with me rushing to the comp (but in a non-chalant manner, lest wifey Kim see the full degeneracy) to play once I had returned from an afternoon of hanging with friends around the city.

Atlantic City is coming up at the end of next week if all goes well at work, and there is always more action just around the corner. You’ve heard it from me before, but I’m going to say it again: I’m damn serious about this game. I want to beat it. I want to grow my game and my bankroll and move up the ladder. I don’t think I have ever been as focused on anything ever before in my life. This is it.

So, yeah. I used to be a bit obsessive about poker, and I’ve officially moved up to excessive obsessive. But I’m loving every minute of it.

Can’t…stop…playing…Rios! This weekend, Titan Poker was offering extra points toward their bonuses. The idea was to promote their new VIP levels. I don’t really get the VIP thing, so maybe someone can inform me. From what I can see, VIP programs in various sites really only offer you some freerolls and bonuses (or faster bonuses). Well, call me crazy, but I usually can’t commite to the time needed for the freerolls, and I’m like a bonus bloodhound, so I can always find one worth chasing.

Regardless, as a result of the offer, I played a bucket load of Rios, which are also available through Noble Poker (same great game, same terrible players). I actually had a streak of 3 first place finishes in a row. Another 3 would’ve earned me $25,000, but I then placed 2nd. Two more 1st or 2nd place finishes in a row would’ve netted me $300, but I then placed 5th.

So close, yet so far.

But that’s the thing with these Rios. Six 1st place finishes in a row will be damn tough, and six 1st or 2nd place finsihes will be still fairly difficult. I usually get to 4 and then slip up. But while I’m trying to get there, I am earning money the entire way.

I’ve earned at least $200 on Rios, by my rough estimation, and I plan on sticking to them in the near future. My goal is to finally hit one of those jackpots, but I know that in the meanwhile, I’ll continue to build the bankroll. So, basically, I’m on a (mostly) all Rio diet for the near future.

I’ve started to keep a separate cash bankroll for my poker play. It really is a novel concept for me. I also used to not count online wins in my win/loss ledger for the year. My logic was that any money I deposit online from my wallet is a loss immediately, and any withdrawal from online is a win. This way, I didn’t “fool” myself into thinking that credits in some online poker room which I could eventually donk off was “real money”.

Turns out, I was fooling myself about fooling myself. At the time when I instituted the rule, I was a net loser online. Then it made sense that any money deposited should be considered a loss. I also thought that the money that I won online had no real-world implications. After all, it did nothing but sit online. It didn’t make my life any easier. It didn’t pay for my groceries. How could I say, “I won $100,” in honesty if I couldn’t touch the money or spend it. I wanted to test how poker could make my life easier.

Things are different now, though. Maybe this is part of my evolution as a poker player. I can’t stop thinking about my eventual goal, to make significant money in this game. In order to do that, I need to amass a bankroll, and the only way to do that is to win money, and then KEEP that money for future games. Hence, I’ve taken my $140 in cash game wins from my last visit to the Townehouse and last two visits from Robbie Hole’s homegame and put it aside. I’ve also started a spreadsheet (since Valentine’s Day, when I realized I lost my calendar, which was my old win/loss ledger) to keep track of ALL wins or losses, be them online or live. Now, I believe that until Valentine’s Day, I was up barely $50 for the year after a slow start. Add that to what I have in my spreadsheet, and I’m at about $450 profit for the year, not including bonuses. My goal was to win $1800 by year end, which is about $150/month. So, basically, I’m doing fairly well in my goal, but need to keep the momentum going.

The Evolution of a Poker Player! Just the thought of it excites me.

I’ve got more to write, but no time to do it, so have a great Monday (all things considered) and I’ll be seeing you at the tables.

I don’t know how to put this, but its kind of a big deal.

DADI is only one week from Monday, and we currently have 12 players signed up. We need about 41 more to offer a seat to a WSOP $1500 event to the winner (specific event to be chosen by the winner). In addition to the $1500 WSOP seat, 2nd place gets an iPod Shuffle, 3rd place gets 10k in PSO points which is redeemable for a whole lot of things including a $100 gift certificate to Party Poker and Absolute Poker, and 4th gets 5k PSO points which is redeemable for a $50 gift certificate to Absolute. Any money remaining after the $1500 seat will be distributed to the other top players, with $100 to each player until the money runs out. In other words, if there is $1850 in the pot, 2nd through 4th get $100 each (on top of the pre-named prizes) and 5th gets $50. So, there are a lot of ways to win, including some great prizes. The WWdn tournament, scheduled every Tuesday, will not take place this week. Instead, Wil Wheaton has offered the winner of DADI a free seat in the WWdn Tournament of Champions as well as the right to name a future WWdn tournament.

So, what are you waiting for?

I can’t help it folks. When people say its Good Friday, the saying just pops into my head: “Good Friday! Hell, its Great Friday!” I guess its akin to when I’m sitting under the gun and the dealer points to the SB and BB and says, “Small blind, big blind…” I always chime in with, “and I’m the huge blind! Hugest blind you’ve ever seen.” I’m just low brow like that.

I’ve been missing out on a lot of blogger tournaments lately. They’ve been proliferating, what with the WPBT, DADI, Mookie’s weekly, and the WWdn tournaments. Its almost maddening, because I’ll sign up after wifey Kim is asleep and invariably, everyone is an hour into a tournament while I’m kicking myself for missing out. Last night was an exception however, as I sat down at a blogger only private tourney hosted by Veneno in conjunction with the Heads Up Challenge 3 finals. Congratulations to Will Wonka on his HUC3 win! He was one of the originals from the first Heads Up Challenge (of which I was founder and Commissioner) so it was great to see one of the originals take it down. I didn’t get to watch the match, but I’m sure he faced stiff competition from FishyMcDonk, a mainstay in these new crop of blogger games.

The HUC3 private “lounge” tournament, arranged by Veneno, was a great idea. Basically, it was just another private tourney, but it coincided with the HUC3 finals. There were 12 players, and, well, I came in 10th. But it was on a suckout by Weak Player, with my AQ vs his A9. I was playing a different brand of poker against the table, slipping into some manic habits. I saw about 30% of the flops, and was doing my best to be erratic and control the table. As a result, I went from chipleader to last place, to middle of the pack, to last place, to top 3, and so forth. Basically, when you play a lot of hands, you see large swings. The over-aggression was working though, and because of it, I was able to get Weak to call my all-in with his A9. In the hand, I was in the SB and he was in the BB. I believe I raised pre-flop, which happened a lot. I had about 1k and the blinds were 50/100 so I raised to 300. He called. I missed the flop, which was all low cards, and maybe a pair, like 525. I decided to push because I thought he would assume I was bluffing. I was, but I knew he would call me with a WIDE range of hands that included hands I could beat, because I was relentless. I also knew that he could fold the hand easily too. He called me with A9, I cheered and typed “booya” and then lost on the turn. I’ve said it before, but not on this blog: Jordan’s rule for celebrating is to celebrate right away, so that when you get sucked out on, at least you had that little moment of joy! I don’t mind losing to a suckout anyway. It just means that I got in with the best of it.

In other news, the 45-person SNG Challenge has ended. The winner…Poker Champ! Yes, even after he ceased to exist, the Champ continued playing, well, like a Champ. Congratulations to him and our 2nd and 3rd place finishers (and two guys who seem to be making a tear in the win department) DrewsPop and Kaellinn. I played my 14th (and, in this case, last) 45-person SNG last night. I had lost all but one of the prior 13, so I needed to 1st place wins or thereabout to make it ITM in our Challenge. I decided to stop the $10+1 tourneys and just go buckwild in the $1. I pushed left and right, showing my 26o or whatever crap hand I had. It was fun tilting an entire table. And for $1, it was affordable. I lost when some jackass sucked out my 47c with JJ! By the way, I believe the $1 45p set up my mood to play ultra-aggressive in the HUC3 lounge tourney. So, um, maybe I’ll avoid that situation in the future.

Other things? Why yes! The DADI 5 is coming up, and we need your help! Spread the good word, people. Use the banner below, or the one on TripJax‘s site, because we need over 50 players just to send one blogger/reader to the WSOP. Take a look at the DADI website for details.

Finally, I got my first dial-a-shot ever last night, and it was from AlCantHang himself! I hear whenever Al makes a dial-a-shot, an angel gets its wings! Al, it was a pleasure talking to you. Rock on!

The Seder plate is a Herbrew tradition during passover, consisting of six different items meant to symbolize different things. Passover is a holiday commemorating Moses’ freeing the Jews from the Pharaoh’s tyrannical rule, but it also celebrates the beginning of Spring. I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the seder plate’s six items, and translate them to poker, because, well, I can. And don’t expect the Hebrew symbolism to match up with the poker symbolism. Cause, that, my friends is just too much work!

Item #1- The Bitter Herbs- In traditional Herbrew lore, the bitter herbs represent the bitterness of slavey. In poker, it represents the bitterness of the grind, where ABC poker rules the day, and we are left as mindless zombies, toiling away. It is a hard life but it allows us the freedom to build the bankroll to a place where we can play higher variance games with freedom. In fact, it reminds me of the Limit Challenge I partook with DNasty. From that challenge, I finally broke $250 and $300 with my bankroll. I learned a lot and gained a lot from the experience. And when I was done, I was free. Free to play what my heart desired.

Item #2- Parsely Dipped in Salt Water- The parsley represents spring (I think) and the saltwater, the sweat and tears shed by the Jews while building the pyramids (notice how, post pyramids, construction work is rarely done by Jews, even though we own and control a hell of a lot of other industries). In poker, the saltwater also represents tears, tears of bubbled opportunities. We can all recall times that we have worked hard, only to suffer defeat. The worst feeling is immediately afterward, when we feel the shock and emptiness of loss, the harshness of toiling away the hours just to make it to the cash, only to lose right before that pot of gold. The salt water reminds us that we must accept this reality and remember it, and by remembering it, we will come to terms with that pain and work harder to be above it in the future. GCox, this one is for you.

Item #3- Charoset- Charoset, a mix of chopped nuts, fruit and slices, is to remind us of the mortar used by the Jews when building the pyramids. In poker, they are the fundamentals, the building blocks to a good player. They are hard work and determination. They are analysis and self-improvement. They are knowing pot odds and pressure points. These key elements are the building blocks that we all need to develop our inner temple of poker. For blogger comparisons, I take a bit of Wonka mixed with some DoubleAs. Both players exhibit in their blogs the fundamentals of poker and beyond, solid foundations, and the ability to work hard at improving their games.

Item #4- The Shank Bone- The shank bone (lamb bone) represents the sacrifices made by the Jews. It is not to be eaten (hell its only a bone) or touched. In many ways, the poker equivalent is ZeeJustin and that other guy. Here were fellow poker players, sacrificed to the masses because of their sins. We have all sinned and we have all cheated, I am sure. Now, ZeeJustin and the other (JJProdigy?), well, they brought it upon themselves. But they are a reminder. A reminder that we are not just gamblers with no honor. We are a band of poker players. There may be no honor amongst theives, but we poker players believe in honor amongst players.

Item #5- The Hard-Boiled Egg- According to some, the egg represents mourning for the fallen temple. To others, it represents the cycle of life and rebirth from spring. For mourning, let us mourn the loss of the Poker Champ, who, although fictional, brought us all together in a temple of shock and humor. For rebirth, let’s go with TripJax, who’s depleted bankroll is going through rebirth with his recent freeroll cash and other successes. In the end, no matter how poorly we are doing (no Trip though, he had to withdraw from his online account for other reasons), there is always a rebirth available to all of us at the poker table.

The Sixth is really at issue. It’s pretty much some more bitter herbs, so we’ll skip it. Don’t know if this post did much for you. Maybe you learned something about god-aweful Hebrew cuisine (its not all this sorta crap, and this is mostly all for symbolic purposes). Maybe you got some insight into how I feel about the struggle of poker. But above all, remember this: this is no mere coincidence. After all, the Jews are the people who came up with Dreydel as a kids game…a game that is, for all intents and purposes, the equivalent of a slot machine. Booya! Amen!